When the Green Bay Packers hired Brian Gutekunst as their next general manager, they passed on Eliot Wolf. Now Wolf is taking his expertise with him to Cleveland, joining John Dorsey and the Cleveland Browns.

Wolf was a 14-year veteran of the Packers scouting team. He had an offer to remain with the Packers and could have joined Reggie McKenzie and Jon Gruden in Oakland as well. But in the end, after meeting with the Browns on Tuesday, he decided that would be the best place for him.

Wolf served as the Packers director of football operations from 2016 to 2017. He most likely would have been named as an assistant GM in Green Bay, working alongside Gutekunst. But Wolf being passed over for the position that his father Ron Wolf once held, likely played a factor in his decision to move.

It’s not a matter of whether or not Wolf becomes a GM in the NFL some day. It’s more a matter of when. Wolf was qualified for the Packers opening and will continue to get other opportunities moving forward. [Read more…]

After being passed over for the GM job in Green Bay, Packers Director of Football Operations Eliot Wolf is interviewing with the Cleveland Browns today.

The Browns just hired John Dorsey as their new General Manager and he quickly hired another Green Bay Packers personnel executive, Alonzo Highsmith as a vice president in the personnel department.

New Packers GM Brian Gutekunst offered Wolf a prominent position to stay in Green Bay, but he may be looking to move on.

Former Packers GM Ron Wolf was not happy to see his son get passed over for the GM job in Green Bay. he told ESPN on Sunday night, “Obviously the people up there don’t think he’s worthy or they would’ve hired him. End of discussion.”

Eliot Wolf is still under contract with the Packers and Gutekunst could prevent him from interviewing for any other NFL job except for GM. But it appears Gutekunst would let Wolf go elsewhere, even though he’s like to see him return to Green Bay to allow the two, who have become good friends, to work together.

The Green Bay Packers didn’t take long to find their new General Manager. Team President Mark Murphy has decided on long-time scout Brian Gutekunst to replace former G.M. Ted Thompson. The Packers are expected to make the announcement official today.

The 44-year-old Gutekunst gets a five-year contract with the Packers and presumably will suit head coach Mike McCarthy just fine. Last week, McCarthy repeatedly sent the message that Thompson’s successor needed to be a good fit with the coach. It is likely that McCarthy’s comments last week at least had some influence on hiring Gutekunst, not to mention contacting the Seattle Seahawks about the availability of their general manager John Schneider.

Gutekunst becomes the sixth scout hired by Ron wolf to go on to become a general manager in the NFL.

Now the pressure is on McCarthy, who still needs to hire coaching staff replacements in a number of areas, including coordinators on both sides of the ball. McCarthy has two years left on his contract. [Read more…]

It would appear that the Green Bay Packers are serious about shaking things up after a disappointing 7-9 season that saw them miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

The NFL Network first reported that GM Ted Thompson would step down and a search for his replacement would begin immediately. Thompson’s contract is set to expire after next season and he’s expected to move into an advisory position within the personnel department.

The search won’t be limited to just in-house candidates. That list includes director of football operations Eliot Wolf, director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst, senior personnel advisor Alonzo Highsmith and vice president of football administration/player finance Russ Ball.

Among the top candidates outside of the organization are Minnesota assistant general manager George Paton, Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas and Baltimore Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta.

Also to be considered is what to do with head coach Mike McCarthy, who is entering the final year of his contract. Team president Mark Murphy must decide whether to extend McCarthy’s contract regardless of who the new GM is, or he can leave McCarthy’s fate in the hands of the new GM.

Thompson was hired by Ron Wolf in 1992 and stayed with the Packers until 2000, when he left to join former Packers coach Mike Holmgren with the Seattle Seahawks. Thompson served as Seattle’s vice president of football operations until 2005 when he was hired to take over the general manager position in Green Bay.

Mark Murphy is expected to meet with reporters to discuss the latest move on Tuesday.

Members of the Green Bay Packers’ personnel department continue to attract attention for open jobs around the NFL.

On Monday, the Buffalo Bills announced they interviewed Packers director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst as they search for a new general manager.

Gutekunst was one of four personnel executives the Bills announced they talked to for the job. The group also includes Philadelphia Eagles director of college scouting Trey Brown, Carolina Panthers assistant general manager Brandon Beane and Houston Texans director of player personnel Brian Gaine.

Gutekunst has been with the Packers for 18 seasons, including the last two as their director of player personnel. He interviewed for the San Francisco 49ers’ vacancy earlier this off-season, but the 49ers hired former NFL safety John Lynch.

According to several media reports, Green Bay Packers director of football operations Eliot Wolf and director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst will interview for the San Francisco 49ers general manager vacancy.

Wolf has been considered a potential general manager in waiting with the Packers. It’s not known how much longer the 63-year-old Thompson plans to keep working in that capacity for the Packers. He is under contract through the 2018 season.

Both Wolf and Gutekunst were promoted to their current jobs in March. The 34-year-old Wolf is the son of former Packers Hall of Fame GM Ron Wolf. Eliot was reportedly the top consideration for the Lions GM vacancy last year, but the Packers denied a request to interview him.

The 49ers fired general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Chip Kelly after the 49ers final game on Sunday.

The Green Bay Packers made a day two trade in the 2016 NFL Draft, moving up in the second round to select a Big Ten offensive lineman. They followed by taking an outside linebacker in round three.

As players were flying off the board early in the second round, the Packers felt Indiana tackle Jason Spriggs was one of the most attractive players on the board. But they didn’t think he would make it to the 57th overall pick, so Ted Thompson began dialing, looking for deals.

The Packers found a taker with the Indianapolis Colts. The two teams swapped second round picks as the Packers moved up to 48th. They also gave a fourth-round pick (125th) and a seventh-round pick (248th) to the Colts, just for the right move up nine spots. [Read more…]

The Green Bay Packers have promoted Eliot Wolf to director-football operations and Brian Gutekunst to director of player personnel.

Wolf is in his 13th season with the team and spent the past year as the director of player personnel after serving as the director of pro personnel for three years. He originally joined the Packers as a pro personnel assistant in 2004 and spent four seasons in that position.

Gutekunst, who is entering his 18th season with the Packers, has spent the past four years as the director of college scouting after previously working 11 seasons as a college scout in the Southeast region. Before joining the Packers full-time, he was a scouting assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1998, a scouting intern for the Packers in the summer of 1997 and assisted the New Orleans Saints’ coaching staff in training camp in 1995. [Read more…]